Attack on Heaven – Turbulent Times (1)

And so, when the viewers of “Attack on Heaven” and “Lulu’s Adventure” gathered in the square in front of the imperial palace to start protesting.

Most people watching this scene thought like this:

‘Well, no matter what, it won’t last long.’

‘It’s not like a real person died, it’s just a character in an animation that died, so won’t they come to their senses after a few days?’

Generally, people’s hearts are like pot lids, so even if they show sudden interest in something, many people easily lose interest in it after a short while.

It’s the same with this.

Although they’re protesting so fervently now due to the shock of directly witnessing the 8th episodes of “Attack on Heaven” and “Lulu’s Adventure”.

Before long, if they realize they’re doing something useless for their own lives, they’ll return home on their own.

However, to conclude first, it seems their predictions were wrong.

“Bring Luka back to life! Resurrect Credo!”

“Make the 8th episodes of “Attack on Heaven” and “Lulu’s Adventure” like they never happened! We want to erase that bad ending from our minds!”

Because, as time passed, the protesters’ momentum didn’t subside, but rather grew stronger.

This was evidence that many people in this world were over-immersed in the animations “Attack on Heaven” and “Lulu’s Adventure”, and.

At the same time, it could be said to be a sign of how much love the characters Credo and Luka were receiving.

For most viewers, Luka and Credo were not just characters in an animation, but existences like brothers or friends.

So how could they stay still when there’s a way to resurrect someone who was like a brother or friend?

A week passed after the protests demanding the resurrection of Luka and Credo began like that.

Before long, the time for the 11th episode of “Attack on Heaven” to air arrived.

That is, the very time to verify whether Ragna had accepted the protesters’ opinions.

Or if he had produced the animation while completely ignoring their opinions.

Thus, the protesters focused their gaze on the giant television installed in the square in front of the imperial palace.

With the determination to continue protesting if the 11th episode of “Attack on Heaven” wasn’t what they had hoped for.

But.

“…Huh?”

“What… is this?”

After a while, people blankly stared at the television screen as if something had slipped.

To conclude first, the 11th episode of “Attack on Heaven” was not about Credo being resurrected again as viewers had expected.

Nor was it content that entirely affirmed Credo’s death.

The content of the 11th episode was just a scream.

The scream of a boy who had lost the pillar that had been supporting him until now.

But, at the same time.

“Cyan isn’t my brother. You don’t need to be my brother. Cyan, you just need to remain as Cyan.”

“…Ah, that’s right. Thank you, Ren.”

This was also a story containing the realization of a man gradually becoming an adult from a young boy.

Therefore, the time the boy suffered was not meaningless at all.

Because at the end of that pain, Cyan realized.

Only after nearly losing the girl ‘Ren’ who had been by his side all along since Credo’s death, he finally realized.

The dead never return.

No matter how sad or painful it is, reality never changes.

Reality belongs to the living.

The right to change reality is always given to those who are living this moment to the fullest.

So, Cyan opens his mouth.

“My brother is dead. He’s gone now!”

The words he’s about to utter weren’t meant for someone else to hear.

This was a resolution towards himself.

A resolution itself to be heard by his weak self who couldn’t face reality, clinging to Credo’s death until now.

“But live on, united in my back, in this chest!”

People die someday, and the farewell encountered at that moment makes people sad.

However.

“Who do you think I am.”

The emotion felt in the moment of farewell can’t be just sadness.

Farewell is sad, but at the same time, it leaves beautiful memories of being together with someone.

That’s why all people living in this moment must move forward, using those memories as a stepping stone.

“I am Cyan. Not my brother! I am me!”

So, I too must move forward.

If only to not be shameful to my dead brother.

To become a brother who isn’t ashamed when we meet again later.

And.

“…..”

“…..”

At this moment, the square in front of the imperial palace, filled with over a thousand people, was so quiet that not even a breath could be heard.

People silently stare at the screen without making any sound, as if they had agreed in advance.

The 11th episode of “Attack on Heaven” ends.

The ending credits all roll up.

Even after the screen goes dark afterwards, continuously.

“…..”

Thud.

Somewhere, there’s a sound of someone collapsing on the ground.

But none of the people gathered here look in that direction.

Because they too were trying hard to suppress the desire to kneel on the ground and repent.

“…We were foolish….”

That’s right.

Only after watching the 11th episode of “Attack on Heaven”, they could finally realize.

Their own ignorance.

Their foolishness in harboring vain hopes of asking for the dead to be resurrected.

Credo and Luka didn’t just die in vain.

They didn’t die for someone else, but for themselves.

Even if they met their deaths here.

Because they firmly believed that someone would inherit their remaining hearts.

But if they suddenly came back to life, where should that heart they had when they resolved to die go?

If they truly loved the people called Luka and Credo, they shouldn’t have acted like this.

While mourning their deaths and shedding tears, the request to resurrect them again was a request that should never have been made.

“Perhaps this is what Director Ragna wanted to say through the 11th episode of “Attack on Heaven”.”

“So we too should accept the deaths of Luka and Credo and move forward. Just like Cyan did.”

“…I see, now I think I understand why he produced such an animation….”

People who naturally realized this fact while watching the 11th episode of “Attack on Heaven” inadvertently let out exclamations of admiration towards Ragna.

Generally, human beings tend to feel bad when someone else points out that their thoughts are wrong, whether that opinion is right or not.

However, the animation Ragna made was different.

Ragna naturally made the protesters realize that their opinions were wrong through the protagonist Cyan’s appearance in the 11th episode of “Attack on Heaven”, and.

In the process, none of those who realized their thoughts were wrong felt any displeasure.

This was truly the most sophisticated method among ways to persuade others.

“Indeed, they say the pen is mightier than the sword…. The power of culture, and the power of animation was this formidable.”

“Sigh, the animations the Director makes were perfect, and I infinitely resent myself from a week ago who briefly harbored distrust towards him….”

“No, that’s not true. Just like Cyan, we were able to gain this realization because of the pain of the 8th episode of “Attack on Heaven”. Then that means, the Director deliberately made such developments in the 8th episode to give us this lesson and catharsis!”

“Ah, indeed! I will repent, I will repent!”

And so, the protesters who had been immovable a week ago despite the imperial people’s efforts to disperse them, instantly went home, and.

“Ragna, you bastard. If you had prepared such a moving development, shouldn’t you have given me a hint in advance as common courtesy?”

The Emperor, who had been watching the television without breathing properly inside the imperial palace, also nodded his head, seeming greatly satisfied.

“To think that I would gain some realization watching Ragna’s animation at this age…. Indeed, the world is worth living long to see.”

After savoring the content of the 11th episode of “Attack on Heaven” for a long time, the Emperor finally realized one uncomfortable truth.

“…But come to think of it, if Ragna hadn’t made the 8th episodes of “Attack on Heaven” and “Lulu’s Adventure” like that in the first place, we wouldn’t have needed to gain this realization, right…?”

When I think about it calmly, this is a bit irritating, isn’t it?

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[“Attack on Heaven” Episode 11. Overwhelming ‘praise’ from viewers, critics, and experts.]

[The message of Count Ragna Tersion naturally realized through direction, ‘Those who died in this world must not linger.’ Everyone alike in a ‘sea of tears’ at its deep meaning.]

[A prestigious professor from the Academy… ‘I apologize. I will no longer do the presumptuous act of trying to understand Director Ragna with my own common sense, going to the protest that day was a rash action, publicly apologizes.’]

[The realization that can be gained through sadness…. What was the message Director Ragna truly wanted to convey to us?]

“…..”

The next morning.

While looking at the array of newspaper articles that seemed to scrape my insides as usual, I realized that I had made another mistake.

‘I should have just filmed Pigeon Mukbang Season 2 like I did during “Machine God Chronicles”.’

As always, it was a truly belated realization.